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American soprano Angela Meade made her professional operatic debut on the Met stage in 2008, stepping in for an ill colleague to sing Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani. Since then she has become known for excelling in the most demanding heroines of the 19th-century bel canto repertoire, and the operas of Verdi and Mozart, receiving such accolades as Washington National Opera’s 2013 Artist of the Year. Returns to the Met have included the title roles in Norma and Sir David McVicar’s new Anna Bolena, and as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. Highlights of recent seasons include Semiramide and Mefistofele at the MET, Norma and Ermione at San Carlo in Naples, Aida at the Liceu in Barcelona and at the Arena di Verona, Die Walküre at the Seattle Opera, Simon Boccanegra at the Festival Verdi in Parma, Il trovatore at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville.
Egyptian soprano Fatma Saïd’s list of accolades for El Nour, her 2020 debut album with Warner Classics, included BBC Music Magazine’s Newcomer of the Year and Vocal Award, Opus Klassik’s 2021 Young Artist of the Year, and the Gramophone Award for Song. Her 2021/22 season began with a gala concert in Istanbul with Rolando Villazón, to be followed by recitals at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, deSingel Antwerp and DeutschlandFunk Cologne. Her season also includes concerts with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, DSO Berlin and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and a debut at the Opéra de Rouen as Pamina. Previously a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, Saïd also regularly represents her home country as an ambassador for culture and education, and in 2016 became the first opera singer ever to be awarded Egypt’s Creativity Award.
Baritone Alexander York, from Wisconsin, begins his second season in the Académie of the Opéra national de Paris, where he will be seen in Don Carlo as a Flemish Deputy and in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges as L’Horloge comtoise and Le chat. Last season, he sang Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus. York recently made his Bayerische Staatsoper debut in Viktor Ullmann’s Der zerbrochene Krug in the role of the Bedienter. In 2017, he sang the role of James Ramsey in the world premiere of Zesses Seglias’ To the Lighthouse at the Bregenz Festival. York made his European debut as Belcore in L’elisir d’amore at Theater Augsburg in 2016 ; also in Augsburg, York played Angelotti in Tosca, the Captain in Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Simplicius Simplicissimus, and Weickmann/Fuhrmann in Hans Thomalla’s Kaspar Hauser. Equally at home on the concert stage, York has performed with the Münchener Rundfunkorchester, Heidelberger Symphoniker, and the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich. York was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Research Grant to study Lied in Munich in 2016, and upon joining the Académie in Paris, he received the Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
Stephen Marsh is the 2018 recipient of the Paulette Bisley and Eleanor Blakemore Opera Scholarships with Melba Opera Trust. He made his professional debut in Victorian Opera’s Sleeping Beauty in 2017 and was also a developing artist, performing in Hansel and Gretel, Heroes and Villains (a gala concert) and Gordon Kerry’s The Snow Queen. Stephen was a member of the Opera Scholars Australia program for 6 years. Other companies he has performed with are Melbourne Opera (2012 – 2017 seasons), Melbourne Lyric Opera and Shoestring Opera Company. He has received multiple scholarships including the Barbara Pigdon Memorial, the Betty Amsden AO Scholarship ‘Opera Scholar of the Year’ for the Australian Music Events 2016/17 season and the John Duncan scholarship.
Originaire du sud de l’Italie et née en 1978, Maria Agresta sort diplômée du conservatoire Guiseppe Martucci de Salerne puis rejoint l’institut de musique Vecchi-Tonelli de Modène. Ce n’est qu’en 2006 que cette jeune soprano obtient ses premiers rôles, avec Rosina dans Le Barbier de Séville de Rossini, au Teatro Lirico Sperimentale de Spoleto. En 2007, elle y interprète Leonora dans Le Trouvère de Verdi. Elle obtient également le rôle de Desdémone dans Otello de Verdi, dans les théâtres italiens de Teramo, Papeterie, Ortona et Pescara.
En 2011, elle interprète la Duchesse Hélène des Vêpres Siciliennes de Verdi au Teatro Regio de Turin, dirigée par Gianandrea Noseda. Elle se voit rapidement offrir de grands rôles, comme le rôle-titre de Norma de Bellini à Tel-Aviv, puis Mimi dans La Bohême aux Arènes de Vérone, La Traviata à Cagliari ou encore Amelia dans Simon Boccanegra à l’Opéra de Rome. La Scala lui ouvre ses portes en 2012 avec le rôle de Donna Elvira dans Don Giovanni. Vérone l’accueille alors de nouveau pour sa prise du rôle de Liu dans Turandot. En 2013, elle interprète Elvira dans I Puritani de Bellini pour ses débuts à Paris-Bastilleen remplacement de Natalie Dessay, puis prend le rôle de Leonora dans Oberto, Comte de Saint-Boniface de Verdi à La Scala. Elle débute également à La Fenice de Venise en Amalia dans Les Brigands.
En 2014, elle fait ses débuts à Covent Garden dans le rôle de Lucrezia Contarini de I due Foscari sous la direction d’Antonio Pappano. En 2015, elle débute au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées et à Zürich dans Norma et à l’Opéra d’Etat de Vienne avec La Bohème, qui lui offre également ses débuts au Met en 2016. Cette année-là, elle débute à l’Opéra d’Etat de Bavière dans La Traviata (qu’elle reprend à l’Opéra allemand de Berlin l’année suivante). Toujours en 2016, elle prête sa voix à Marguerite dans Faust (Gounod) au Festival de Salzbourg, puis reprend le rôle-titre de Norma pour ses débuts au Teatro Real de Madrid. Elle retourne au Met en 2017 en Micaëla dans Carmen et débute à l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo avec Le Trouvère. En 2018, Zürich lui offre sa prise du rôle-titre de Luisa Miller, tandis qu’elle débute à l’Opéra d’Etat de Berlin avec celle d’Alice Ford dans Falstaff et à l’Opéra de Chicago avec Le Trouvère. En 2019, elle prend le rôle-titre d’Anna Bolena à Rome et celui d’Elisabeth de Valois dans Don Carlo à Madrid.
Bassoonist Pierre Gomes studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de musique in Lyon with Carlo Colombo before being accepted to the Munich Philharmonic Academy. He performed as member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra and of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra before joining the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in 2011 and being invited to join the National Orchestra of Metz in 2012. He was also
invited by Claudio Abbado to play in the esteemed conductor’s Orchestra Mozart Bologna. Gomes has performed under the direction Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov and Kurt Masur, and has collaborated with François Leleux, Christian Zacharias, Martin Fröst and Renaud Capuçon. He is a professor at the Luxembourg Conservatory and has been invited to lead masterclasses in Colombia, Israel and Palestine.
Thomas Hampson has received numerous international awards for his artistry and cultural influence. His operatic repertoire includes more than 80 roles and his discography includes more than 170 albums, which have won several Grammy and Edison Awards and the Grand Prix du Disque. The American baritone is also Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In addition to several honorary doctorates, he is the Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République française, as well as the recipient of the Hugo Wolf Medal. In 2003 he founded the Hampsong Foundation, through which he uses the art of singing to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding.
She is the recipient of the First Prize, the Audience Prize, the Orchestra and Technicians’ Prize of the Concours International de Chant de Mâcon, the First Prize and Special Prize of the Jury of Léopold Bellan International Competition, of a Golden Medal from Manhattan International Music Competition, and is a winner of Armel Opera Competition, as well as a finalist of Concorso Liricio Internazionale Ottavio Ziino and Concours International George Enescu. This season, Jeanne will be making her debut at the Opéra National de Paris for a Beethoven concert (Amphithéâtre Bastille), at the Chorégies d’Orange for the 10th anniversary of Musiques en fête, at the Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence where she will give a recital with Renaud Capuçon and Tanguy de Williencourt, and at the Festival de Fénétrange under the baton of Mathieu Herzog with the Ensemble Appassionato. Upcoming roles include Sophie (Werther) at the Opéra de Nice, Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Grand Théâtre, Scène Nationale de Mâcon under the baton of Eric Geneste directed by Sébastien Lemoine, Dorinda (The Tempest) and The Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas) conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón with the Cappella Mediterranea, staged by Pascal Neyron at the Rencontres Musicales d’Evian – La Grange au Lac. Her next recording projects are the song cycles of Karol Beffa’s next album under French label Klarthe as well as the role of Tessa (Die Afrikareise) with the Sofia Philharmonic and conductor Dario Salvi for Naxos Records.
Most recent operatic engagements include Der Hüter des Tempels (Die Frau ohne Schatten) under the baton of Valery Gergiev during the Verbier Festival, Le Feu/ Rossignol (cover) in Richard Jones’s production of L’Enfant et les sortilèges at the Opéra National de Paris and Amore (Orfeo ed Euridice) at Opera North in Sweden and Budapest Palace of Arts. As a chamber musician, Jeanne has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, Danny Kaye Playhouse, Bargemusic, Dimenna Center, the Bohemian Hall in New-York, Grand Théâtre de Provence, Salle Cortot…
Jeanne Gérard has earned a Master’s of classical voice from Manhattan School of Music, where she studied under the tutelage of Patricia Misslin. She took part in the masterclasses of Thomas Hampson, Thomas Quasthoff, Barbara Frittoli, Mariella Devia, Graham Johnson, Dalton Baldwin, Martin Katz, Jake Heggie, Giulio Zappa… Jeanne has been a member of the Martina Arroyo Foundation, Songfest and the Atelier Lyrique of the Verbier Festival. Jeanne studied humanities at Henri IV (classe préparatoire littéraire) and holds a bachelor degree in philosophy from la Sorbonne. A versatile artist, she studied acting with Jean-Laurent Cochet, Scott Williams and Matt Newton, and played the roles of Mrs Wire in The Lady of Larkspur Lotion (T. Williams), Girl in Mr Paradise (T. Williams) and Yelena in Uncle Vanya (A. Chekhov) at the Producers’ Club in New-York. She trained in dance at the Centre de Danse du Marais and at the Broadway Dance Center. She has performed in famous jazz clubs in Paris and New York such as Le Petit Journal Montparnasse, The Manderley Bar, The Bitter End and The Lounge.
Jeanne’s performances have been broadcasted on Medici TV, Arte Concert, France Musique and France 3.
Equally at home as a soloist and as part of a chamber ensemble, violinist Mihaela Martin has collaborated with musical greats such as Kurt Masur, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Leon Fleisher, and Menahem Pressler. As a young musician, she won top prizes at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Montreal International Music Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. She credits Silvia Marcovici and the great pedagogue, Stefan Gheorghiu, with whom she studied for 10 years, as key influences in her development as an artist.
Martin left Romania in 1986 and has since resided in Germany, where she now teaches at the Barenboim-Said Akademie. She is a regular guest at many chamber music festivals, and pursues her intense love for chamber music as member of the Michelangelo String Quartet, which she helped found in 2003.
Aleksandar Madžar was born in Belgrade in 1968. He started playing the piano under the guidance of Gordana Malinović at the age of six, and later studied in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Moscow and Brussels, with Arbo Valdma, Elisso Virsaladze and Daniel Blumenthal.
He won prizes in Geneva, Leeds, the Busoni and Umberto Micheli competitions and gave his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Ivan Fischer in 1990. He has since then been performing regularly all over Europe, enjoying a rich and varied career in recital, concertos (with André Previn, Marcello Viotti, Paavo Järvi, Andris Nelsons) and chamber music, occasionally also touring North and South America, South Africa and the Far East and Australia.
Aleksandar Madžar is a frequent guest of the Wigmore Hall in London, the Theatre de la Ville in Paris, the Brussels Bozar, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, as well as the Conservatorio in Milan; the Delft, Lockenhaus, Peasmarsh and Juventus (Cambrai) summer festivals. His regular chamber music partners include, among others, the Takács Quartet, Anthony Marwood, Nicolas Altstaedt, Vilde Frang, and the soprano Juliane Banse.
Aleksandar Madžar teaches at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire in Brussels and at the Hochschule für Musik